Psychology of the Unconscious: A Study of the Transformations and Symbolisms of the Libido. A Contribution to the History of the Evolution of ThoughtJung, C. G. (Carl Gustav)
Philosophy
Psychology of the Unconscious: A Study of the Transformations and Symbolisms of the Libido. A Contribution to the History of the Evolution of Thought
Jung, C. G. (Carl Gustav)
Libido (Psychology); Mother and child; Psychoanalysis; Subconsciousness; Symbolism (Psychology)
This reminiscence with which the series of ideas is closed confirms the
death phantasies which follow from renunciation of the erotic wish. The
quotation comes—which Miss Miller did not mention—from an uncompleted
poem of Byron’s called “Heaven and Earth.”[189] The whole verse follows:
“Still blessed be the Lord,
For what is passed,
For that which is;
For all are His,
From first to last—
Time—Space—Eternity—Life—Death—
The vast known and immeasurable unknown
He made and can unmake,
And shall I for a little gasp of breath
Blaspheme and groan?
No, let me die as I have lived in faith,
Nor quiver though the universe may quake!”
The words are included in a kind of praise or prayer, spoken by a
“mortal” who is in hopeless flight before the mounting deluge. Miss
Miller puts herself in the same situation in her quotation; that is to
say, she readily lets it be seen that her feeling is similar to the
despondency of the unhappy ones who find themselves hard pressed by the
threatening mounting waters of the deluge. With this the writer allows
us a deep look into the dark abyss of her longing for the sun-hero. We
see that her longing is in vain; she is a mortal, only for a short time
borne upwards into the light by means of the highest longing, and then
sinking to death, or, much more, urged upwards by the fear of death,
like the people before the deluge, and in spite of the desperate
conflict, irretrievably given over to destruction. This is a mood which
recalls vividly the closing scene in “Cyrano de Bergerac”:[190]
_Cyrano_:
Oh, mais ... puisqu’elle est en chemin,
Je l’attendrai debout ... et l’épée à la main.
Que dites-vous?... C’est inutile? Je le sais.
Mais on ne se bat pas dans l’espoir du succès.
Non, non. C’est bien plus beau lorsque c’est inutile.
Je sais bien qu’à la fin vous me mettrez à bas....
We already know sufficiently well what longing and what impulse it is
that attempts to clear a way for itself to the light, but that it may be
realized quite clearly and irrevocably, it is shown plainly in the
quotation “No, let me die,” which confirms and completes all earlier
remarks. The divine, the “much-beloved,” who is honored in the image of
the sun, is also the goal of the longing of our poet.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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